MLB: Was August trade flurry sign of a growing trend?
This August featured more notable trades than usual, including a pair of headliners yesterday. Will an active post-deadline market become the norm in MLB?
Traditionally, July 31 is the date for MLB fans to circle on their calendars as far as trades are concerned. But if you didn’t know any better, you might have thought yesterday was the real deadline. The final day of August saw several prominent players switch teams, highlighted by former Detroit Tigers stars Justin Verlander and Justin Upton.
Brandon Phillips, Cameron Maybin, Leonys Martin and Miguel Gonzalez also changed addresses in waiver trades before the clock struck midnight. While not of the caliber of an Upton or Verlander, they’re veteran players most fans will know easily.
The last-minute frenzy of trade activity put an exclamation point on an August that featured more waiver transactions than usual. It’s easy to roll your eyes when media pundits are quick to point out on the afternoon of July 31 that trades can still be made after the deadline. Given the added hurdle of players needing to pass through waivers, truly notable deals are often hard to come by.
Sure, you sometimes see a veteran on the move in August who ends up helping his new club down the stretch. Players must be with an organization before Sept. 1 to be postseason-eligible, making Aug. 31 somewhat of a de facto “deadline” in itself.
In exceeding rare cases you get a genuine blockbuster like the one between the Dodgers and Red Sox that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett to Los Angeles in 2012. That seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence as a team that desperately wanted to shed salary linked up with a playoff hopeful more than willing to take it on.
But could this year’s August bustle be a sign of things to come? Aside from yesterday’s deals, several noteworthy players were traded last month, including Jay Bruce, Yonder Alonso, Curtis Granderson, Rajai Davis, Neil Walker, Tyler Clippard and Mike Leake. That wouldn’t be the most exciting collection of July trades, but in August it’s a fairly solid group.
One of the more obvious changes to the game in the past several years is the updated postseason format. With an extra Wild Card spot in each league, more teams have a legitimate hope of making the playoffs later in the season. This has led to many clubs not being quite sure whether they should buy or sell on July 31. A few extra weeks can add some clarity.
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By the end of August, teams on the bubble should have an even better idea of where they stand. At the non-waiver trade deadline, the Angels were five games out of a Wild Card berth. Yesterday they were only a game back. Understandably, they decided to go for it by acquiring a big bat like Upton.
Things can change for clubs in relatively safe positions as well. The Astros are in no real danger of losing the AL West, but they went just 11-17 in August, easily their worst month of the season. Many criticized their inability to get a starting pitcher before the non-waiver deadline. Wanting to give themselves a boost on the mound and perhaps in terms of morale as well, Houston landed Verlander in an eleventh-hour stunner last night.
However, it takes two to make a trade happen, and you also need teams with desirable players that can pass through waivers to see deals occur in August. Last month’s biggest sellers were the Tigers and Mets, who had several appealing veterans on large contracts, making them unlikely to be claimed on waivers. In the case of the Mets, Bruce, Granderson and Walker are all impending free agents. With the team out of the playoff hunt, it made sense to get something in return for them.
Next: Breaking down AL Wild Card race
From that angle, this August may have been a bit of a “perfect storm” as postseason contenders with specific needs found out-of-the-race teams with plenty of pieces still to unload. A Verlander or Upton likely won’t become available at this time every year. But as clubs continue growing comfortable doing business after the non-waiver deadline, August might not remain the transactional wasteland it’s typically viewed as.